Burke watched Eve walk away from him. Against his will, his gaze lingered. He took in her straight back, the sweep of her dark hair across her shoulders, the narrow curve of her waistline. With a scowl, he looked away from her.
He was angry, his body tense with it. This investigation that should have clicked into place had blown apart. Richard Patterson was dead and now, here Burke was, forced to take Patterson’s place. What should have been a cut and dried apprehension had become complicated. And, instead of overseeing the investigation, where he needed to be, he’d had to hand over that responsibility to his second in command Lanski while he was now stuck in the middle of nowhere impersonating Patterson and guarding his accomplice.
Burke pulled out his cell phone and called Lanski.
“Hey, boss,” Lanski said an instant later. “Are you calling from the road?”
Burke’s cell phone was secure so his location could not be determined. “No. We’ve arrived.”
“You and the lady doc all settled in?”
That comment brought on another scowl. Burke ignored the question and asked his own. “Are we set for tomorrow night?”
“All set, sir,” Lanski said, all humor gone. “We’ll have the cottage covered with land, sea and air surveillance. Just like you ordered. The buyer won’t get away from us.”
Burke expected nothing less. “Dr. Collins still has her cell phone in her possession.”
“You let her keep it?”
“Yeah. I want you to monitor her cell phone calls. Incoming and outgoing. I want to know who she calls and who calls her.”
Lanski paused briefly then said, “You want to know if she tips anyone off about Patterson?”
“Yeah.”
“Good thinking. She might not be expecting that we’ll be listening, and have her guard down. I’m on it. Anything else?”
“That’s it for now.”
“See you tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow,” Burke repeated.
This would all be over then. He couldn’t wait.
Imposter: Chapter Four
They were on the road at seven-thirty the next morning. If this had been another day, Eve would have welcomed an additional couple of hours of sleep. She wasn’t a morning person to begin with and topping that with the sleepless night spent worrying over her situation had left her edgy. But, this was the day the true accomplice would reveal himself and exonerate her. She couldn’t get the day started early enough.
They stopped for breakfast at a restaurant in Rowland then resumed the drive to the conference. Burke didn’t ask for directions to the hotel where the conference was being held. It was clear that he knew exactly where he was headed. When they arrived, he pulled into the valet parking. The act was so typically Richard that Eve glanced over at the man behind the wheel. The hotel allowed for patrons to park their own vehicles, but Eve had never known Richard to do that when someone else was available to park his car for him. She wondered if Burke was acting as Burke or if he was mimicking Richard’s behavior. He was falling into impersonating Richard well.
Her door was opened by the hotel attendant who offered his hand to help her out. Eve placed her hand in his and stepped onto the asphalt. The day was overcast, but despite the clouds covering the sun, the air outside was warm and sticky.
Burke—ah Richard—she had to remember to call him Richard—joined her and they made their way through the double glass doors that accessed the hotel lobby.
The conference coordinators reserved the same rooms for the event each year. For the first time since she’d embarked on the trip with Richard, Eve knew where she was heading.
She spotted Matt Deligne making his way toward her. Deligne was a big, bold Texan, topping six feet by several inches. His shaggy hair, beneath a white Stetson, was sun-streaked, attesting to the time he spent outdoors on the cattle ranch he lived on.
“Why hi y’all,” he said, when he reached her. He swept her into a bear hug that squeezed a cough from her.
After Eve extracted herself from Deligne’s hold, she said, “Richard, this is Matt Deligne. Matt, my business partner, Richard Patterson.”
“Matt,” Burke said.
Burke and Deligne shook hands.
“Never did see you out this way, Rick,” Deligne said. “Have to say, I was starting to believe Eve had made you all up as an excuse to deny going out with me.”
“As you can see, Matt, Richard is very real.” Eve had to force the smile that she needed to go along with that statement about Richard.
“Well, I’ve never been one to back away from competition,” Matt said.
She added softly, not wishing to cause Matt hurt. “Richard isn’t the reason you and I will go on being just friends.”
Beside her, Burke tensed. Maybe in anticipation of Matt’s reaction, but Eve had never known Matt to be anything but good-natured.
Matt laughed now, loud enough that patrons at the other end of the long hall way glanced in their direction. “I think the lady just hit me dead-on with a solid right hook. I’m bleeding all over this fancy carpeting, darlin’.”
She’d been less than tactful and her words hadn’t come out as she’d intended. She was sorry for that. The last thing she wanted was to cause her friend hurt. “Sorry, Matt. It isn’t you, it’s me.” God, she was making things worse with the trite line.
Matt laughed. “Easy. You can quit dancing now. My heart’s bruised but still beating.” He winked at her. “And here comes Allie. I know you’ll be glad to see him.”
“Allie” was Alasdair McHampton, a Scotsman who emigrated to the United States from Edinburgh in the nineteen fifties. He’d retired from researching pharmaceuticals years back, but missed being able to discuss his passion for chemistry and sought out the conference and like-minded individuals each year to indulge in conversation he was no longer able to have elsewhere.
Allie’s thinning, sandy blond hair stood up in places. His shirt was slightly creased and his signature polka dot bow tie was askew. As usual, Allie looked rumpled. Eve found Allie’s rumpled state endearing. Of their little group, Allie was the one she was most fond of, and the one person she kept in touch with apart from the conference. She’d invited him out to visit her in New York in the past, but the elderly gentleman had regretfully refused. He was terrified of flying and prone to car sickness. If he didn’t live in the vicinity of this hotel, it was doubtful that he would attend the conference.
When Allie joined them, Eve reached out and embraced him.
“You have brightened this room with your presence my dear,” Allie said.
Eve laughed. “It’s good to see you, Allie.”
She straightened the bow tie for him, as she usually did several times during the course of the conference, then introduced Burke as Richard. She did so reluctantly. She hated perpetuating the deception on Allie.
“So this is your mystery man.” Allie clasped Burke’s hand in a firm shake.
Eve grinned at Allie’s description. Though he had never married himself, he was quite the romantic. Allie was something of a matchmaker and after learning that she was no longer married kept a watchful eye for prospective candidates for her affection.
Allie quickly engaged Burke in conversation. As usual, Allie’s topic of choice was chemistry and Eve’s stomach tightened. Burke hadn’t been expecting to have to step in and impersonate a chemist. Did he even know anything about chemistry? If so, did he know enough to be able to fool a professional?
Part of her wanted the smug Burke to fall on his face and she imagined herself apologizing to Allie for the deception when Burke slipped up. The more practical part of her, though, knew in order for the suspicion against her to go away, for Burke himself to go away, Burke’s impersonation had to work. She was thinking of how to rescue him from the conversation when it soon became apparent that Burke didn’t need a rescue. He was holding up his end with Allie just fine.
“Dr. Abernathy is about to begin his talk very shortly,” Allie said with a broad smile. �
��I don’t want to miss that. Shall we proceed?”
Eve fell into step beside Allie, leaving Burke, and Matt Deligne to follow. Inside the conference room, Eve set her purse on the floor and took a seat beside Allie. Burke sat on Eve’s other side. Though Eve usually enjoyed the seminars scheduled at this conference, and partook of as many of them as she could fit into the tight three days, she couldn’t have been less interested now. Keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Abernathy was introduced, made his way to the podium, and began to speak. Eve glanced at her watch. She’d never known time to move so slowly. She wanted it to be midnight and to be back at the cottage with the meeting with the buyer underway.
Abernathy droned on. By the avid expressions on the faces of the people around her, his audience was enthralled. Allie, in particular, had slid forward and now sat on the end of his seat. Eve shifted position in the plush chair. She moved several times more on the taupe cushion then Burke’s arm snaked around her shoulders, stilling her.
He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. “You’re wearing a hole in that chair.”
Of course, he was calm. This was a job to him. Business as usual. To her it was her life. Before she could give Burke that reply, Abernathy announced that he would be taking a brief intermission. Eve broke Burke’s grip on her shoulders and shot to her feet.
“Fascinating. Positively fascinating,” Allie said. He rose slowly to his feet. “I think I’ll help myself to some refreshment.”
A table took up a portion of one wall and wait staff bustled about setting covered dishes and trays on the white covering.
Allie glanced from Eve to Burke and then to Matt who now formed a semi-circle around him. “Anyone care to join me?”
Matt clapped Allie on the shoulder. “I’m with you.”
Allie turned to Eve. “How about you my dear?”
“Sounds good.”
Allie offered his arm.
A cell phone rang. Burke retrieved the ringing phone from his pocket. Richard’s phone, Eve realized. His name was stamped on the cover. The formula. The keys to the cottage. The cell phone. Burke had been thorough when he’d searched Richard’s body.
Burke glanced at the telephone briefly, checking the caller ID. Eve leaned over to do the same and saw that the number had been blocked.
“Excuse me,” Burke said to Allie and the others.
With a pointed look to Eve that she interpreted as a bid to follow him, Burke walked away. In this, she and Burke were on the same page. Following him was exactly what Eve intended to do.
“Sorry, Allie. Raincheck,” Eve said.
She fell into step with Burke as he wove his way through the men and women milling about the conference room and returned to the hotel lobby. Burke flipped open the phone but didn’t put it to his ear. Eve leaned toward him and saw that the caller had sent a text message. The angle of the phone, though, prevented her from reading it. An instant later Burke closed the phone.
“Well?” Eve asked.
“I’m to check in then proceed to my room. Our caller will meet me there in ten minutes.”
Eve felt excitement course through her.
Burke raised his gaze and his dark eyes settled on her. “If this is the buyer making contact, I’m wondering why he upped the time of the meeting and changed the location?”
Eve didn’t care for the suspicion she heard in Burke’s tone. “I have no answers for those questions and I’m not about to stand here with you and analyze his motives. As far as I’m concerned if this is the buyer or the accomplice, getting this over with now rather than later would be a good thing.”
Burke did not respond to her comment. He used his own cell phone and placed a call. After a brief pause, he said, “Lanski. Change in plans.” Burke went on to inform Lanski about the message he’d received then gave the order to mobilize a team of agents. “Tell our people to hold their positions. No one moves in without my order.” Burke ended the call then turned to her. “Okay, Doctor, let’s go.”
Burke proceeded to the front desk with Eve in tow.
“I’d like to check in,” he said to the young male clerk.
“Sure thing, sir.” The clerk nodded, and the red and blue tints in his hair glittered in the light from the chandelier overhead. “Name please.”
“Richard Patterson.”
“Are you with the chemist’s convention, sir?” he asked conversationally.
“Yes.”
The young man tapped the computer keyboard. “A great line up of speakers this year.”
“Quite good,” Burke agreed.
“Here you are, Dr. Patterson.” The clerk handed Burke a key card. “Room 1117 just like you asked for.”
Burke signed the register.
“Enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you.”
Burke and Eve left the desk and the clerk bent his head over a stack of papers. A woman rushed by them, bearing an armload of towels.
“Did Richard reserve this room in addition to arranging accommodation at the cottage?” Burke asked.
“I don’t know. Can your people look into that?”
“I’ll get Lanski on it but since the room isn’t billed until checkout, there’s no way to trace the reservation through a credit card. I don’t like going into this meeting blind.”
Eve’s stomach tensed. “We have no choice. We have to see this through and do as your caller instructed.”
He studied her. “I have every intention of seeing this through.”
With his hand at her back, Burke steered Eve to the bank of elevators. The lobby was quiet now. The chemist’s conference was the big event at the hotel at this time of year and most of the hotel patrons were gathered in the conference room to hear Dr. Abernathy speak. No doubt Richard’s buyer would have known that and choosing this meeting time when few people would be about had not been a coincidence.
Eve waited outside the room Burke had been assigned while he performed his customary check of the surroundings.
“All clear,” he said a few moments later.
Eve joined him inside. He hung a “do not disturb” placard on the exterior door knob, which she figured he’d also been instructed by the caller to do.
The room was a suite and a large one with plush furnishings and gilt accessories. A bottle of champagne cooled in a silver ice bucket. Strawberry, mango, and kiwi from an abundant fruit basket scented the air. It was precisely the kind of accommodation Richard would have booked for himself. If she’d made the arrangements, she would have reserved a simple room for Richard, like one she’d book for herself.
“Why that look?” Burke asked.
Eve removed her gaze from the long hall that led to the bedroom and looked to Burke. “Just that this room is so typically Richard.” She shrugged. “When he checked into a hotel, he always chose the best room available.” She didn’t add that he would have spared no expense if the business was paying. He had no concern for where the business stood financially. How many times had she gone head to head with him over expenses he charged to their partnership?
She shook off those irrelevant thoughts and directed her attention where it needed to be. “Is it possible the meeting at the cottage is a dupe and that this is the real meeting? That Richard and the buyer made a plan you don’t know about? Could your Intel be off?”
“No.”
Burke’s firm tone left no doubt that he trusted his information. Eve accepted his word on that. She glanced at her watch. “It’s been ten minutes.”
Burke sat on the arm of the chesterfield. “Yeah.”
Eve walked to a floor-to-ceiling window. The day had cleared. There wasn’t a cloud visible now. Sunlight streamed in, bathing the room in its warm glow. The suite overlooked an enclosed garden. Flowers and shrubs were in full bloom. The view was breathtaking, but Eve was not in a frame of mind to appreciate it. She turned away to pace the room. Sixty minutes went by. She was wearing grooves in the rug, she thought.
Another hour later, she stopped in
front of Burke. “He should have been here by now.”
Burke nodded. “I think we can say whoever sent the message isn’t coming.”
Burke took out his phone and called Lanski. Eve tuned out Burke’s voice as he told Lanski the meeting was a bust. Disappointment weighed on her.
“. . . a set up,” Burke said, then ended the call.
His last words had caught her attention. “What did you mean a set up—set up for what?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Someone just played with us, Doctor. I’d like to know why.”
She met his pointed stare. “Are you insinuating something?”
“Not insinuating. Asking outright. Did you set up this little diversion?”
“Why would I do that?”
“As a signal to the buyer that your plan has gone south?”
“A signal . . .” Eve shook her head. “How could I have set this up?” She spread her arms wide. “I was with you when you got the cell phone text. I couldn’t have sent that. I want this guy found more than you do. It’s my life on the line if we don’t.”
“It’s your life on the line if we do find him. Once we have the buyer, we’ll have you. You won’t be able to deny your involvement.”
“I have nothing to deny.”
They left the room and rode the elevator to the lobby in a stony silence. When the doors opened, Eve stepped out ahead of Burke.
“Eve!”
Allie stood at the door to the conference room, shoulders raised, gaze intent, frantically waving to her. Abernathy’s lecture was over. Only a handful of people still lingered in the lobby and Eve crossed the room quickly to Allie.
“Eve, my dear,” Allie said. “I’d almost despaired of seeing you again today.”
Allie clutched her hand and Eve’s fears for herself dimmed for the moment in the face of his distress. “What is it Allie? Are you all right?”
“Yes. Yes.” He shook his head. A slight smile trembled on his thin lips. “Forgive me, my dear. Forgive my theatrics. You left in such a hurry that you forgot your handbag beneath the chair you’d been occupying.” He held her cream-colored envelope purse aloft. “I hope you don’t mind. I thought it best to retrieve it for you, rather than permit it to be placed in a lost and found.” Allie blinked owl-like and eyed her expectantly, awaiting confirmation, it appeared to Eve, that he’d acted well.
Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers Page 47
